92 



NATURE 



\ytme r, 1876 



view, and under various magnifying powers. Altogether 

 the phenomenon was as distinct as in the case of our 

 moon. On February 3, 16, and 21 it was not seen, but 

 on the evening of February 28, it was again prominently 

 visible to Harding; the illumination was now of a reddish 

 grey, " like that of the moon in a total eclipse." Yet on 

 the same evening Schroter looked in vain for the pheno- 

 menon at Lilienthal, showing how cautiously negative 

 evidence should be received. 



Observations of the secondary light were made by 

 Pastorff in 1822 and by Gruithuisen in 1825. 



The Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical 

 Society contain many observations since the year 1842 

 by Messrs. Berry, Browning, Guthrie, Langdon, Noble, 

 Prince, and others. Mr. Prince had favourable views of 

 the illumination of the dark side in September 1863. 

 Capt. Noble's observations, as remarked by Prof. Win- 

 necke in his notice of Prof. Safarik's memoir, do not 

 appear to refer to the secondary light as it has been per- 

 ceived by other observers. He mentions that the hemi- 

 sphere unilluminated by the sun has to him "always 

 appeared distinctly and positively darker than the back- 

 ground upon which it was projected," a statement which 

 certainly gives the observations a distinctive character. 



There are also observations of the secondary light by 

 Lyman, at Yale College in 1867, and about the same time 

 by Sa<'arik at Prague, and in August, 1871, more decidedly. 

 In September of the latter year the whole disk of Venus 

 was seen by Prof. Winnecke as described in Ast. Nach., 

 No. 1863. This astronomer has since stated that not- 

 withstanding he has observed the planet many hundred 

 times during the last twenty-four years, he has only suc- 

 ceeded in perceiving this remarkable illumination of the 

 dark side on two occasions ; and it should be added that 

 Dawes, Madler, and other eminent observers, have never 

 detected it. We shall revert to this subject next week. 



The Observatory at Athens. — The death is an- 

 nounced of Baron Simon von 3ina, son of the founder of 

 the Observatory at Athens, which has been successively 

 under the direction of M. Bouris and Herr Julius Schmidt. 

 The deceased Baron is mentioned as a liberal patron of 

 this establishment, though not himself engaged in scien- 

 tific pursuits, and Herr Schmidt writes doubtfully of the 

 future of the Observatory. Every astronomer will enter- 

 tain the hope that this most laborious and successful 

 observer— distinguished not only by his great work upon 

 the moon, but for his numerous discoveries and obser- 

 vations of variable stars, his long and important series of 

 observations of comets, of short period and otherwise, in 

 which he has made excellent use of the advantages of his 

 southern position, and many other valuable contributions 

 to observational astronomy — may continue to hold, under 

 favourable auspices, the direction of an establishment 

 which his exertions have made so honourably known in 

 the astronom-cal world. 



THE LOAN COLLECTION CONFERENCES 



OWING to the pressure on our space this week, we 

 can only refer briefly to what has been done since 

 our last notice at the Conferences in connection with the 

 Loan Collection. We give, however, in another part of 

 the paper the presidential addresses of Dr. J. Burdon San- 

 derson, F.R.S., in the Section of Biology, and of Mr. John 

 Evans, F.R.S., in the comprehensive Section of Physical 

 Geography, Geology, &c. We hope in early numbers to be 

 able to give at some length the principal papers which 

 have been read in the various sections. 



On Thursday last the concluding meeting in the Section 

 of Mechanics was held, when the following papers were 

 read :— "On Prime Movers," by Mr. Bramwell, F.R.S. ; 

 "The Construction of Furnaces," by Mr. Hackney; "A 

 History of Electric Telegraphs," by Mr. Preece. 



The first meeting in the Section of Biology was held on 

 Friday, when the papers of which we gave a list in our 

 last week's notice were read. This Section met also on 

 Monday, when the following papers were read : — 



Dr. Royston-Pigott, F.R.S., on a " Microscope with 

 Complex Adjustments, Searcher, and Oblique Condenser 

 Apparatus ;" Prof. Rutherford, F.R.S., " On a Freezing 

 Microtome ; " Prof. Flower, F.R.S., " On the Osteological 

 Preparations exhibited by the Royal College of Sur- 

 geons ;" Herr Prof. Dr. Donders," Ophthalmological Appa- 

 ratus ;" Dr. M'Kendrick, "Acoustical Instruments;" 

 Prof. Yeo, M.D., and Dr. Urban Pritchard, " On Micro- 

 tomes." 



On Tuesday the first meeting in the Section of Physical 

 Geography, Geology, Mineralogy, and Meteorology, was 

 held, when, in addition to the President's Address, the 

 following papers were read : — 



Mr. R. H. Scott, F.R.S., " Meteorological Instruments 

 in the Loan Collection ;" Mr. G. J. Symons, " The Mea- 

 surement of the Rainfall ;" Dr. R. J. Mann, "Lightning 

 Conductors ; " M. le Professeur A. Daubr^e, " La Ge- 

 ologic Synth^tique ; " Mr. J. E, H. Gordon gave an 

 explanation of his Anemometer ; Mr. C. O. b < Cator 

 " On Anemometers ; " Prof, von Oettingen give a 

 description of his Anemometer ; Dr. R. J. Mann, 

 " Lowne's Series of Anemometers ;" Mr. John Evans, 

 F.R.S., " Dalton's PercoUtion Gauge." 



This Section meets again to-day and to-morrow, for 

 which days the following programme has been drawn up : — 

 For to-day. — Capt. Baron Ferdinand von Wrangell, " On 

 Self-registering Tide-gauges ; " Lieut. Cameron, R N., 

 " Physical Geography of South Tropical Africa;" Major 

 Anderson, K.E , " Maps of Palestine ; " Col. Walker, R.E., 

 or Col. Montgomerie, R.E., "Discoveries in Tibet ; " Mr. 

 Francis Gallon, F.R.S., "On Means of Combining 

 Various Data in Maps and Diagrams ; " Capt. Evans, 

 R.N., C.B , F.R.S., Hydrographer of the Navy, " Hydro* 

 graphy, its present Aspects;" Capt. J. E. Davis, R.N., 

 " The various forms of Sounding Apparatus used by Her 

 Majesty's Ships in ascertaining the depth of the ocean, 

 and the nature of its bottom ; " Staff-Commander E. W. 

 Creak, R.N., " Nautical Magnetic Surveys ;" Prof. Ros- 

 coe, F.R.S., "Automatic Light Registering Apparatus." 

 For to-morrow.— Prof. Ramsay, F.R.S., " The Origin and 

 Progress of the Geological Survey of the British Isles, 

 and the method on which it is conducted ; " Mr. W. Top- 

 ley, F.G.S., " The Sub-Wealden Boring ; " Mr. C. E. de 

 Ranee, F.G.S., " Sketch of the Geology of the known 

 Arctic Regions ; " Mr. W. Galloway, " Colliery Explo- 

 sions ;" Prof. Baron von Ettingshausen, " The Tertiary 

 Origin of the actual Flora ; " Mr. J. S. Gardner, F.G.S., 

 " The Tertiary Floras ; " M. des Cloiseaux, Membre de 

 rinstitut, " L'emploi des propridtes birdfringentes k la 

 determination des cristaux ; " Mr. Walter Rowley, F.G.S , 

 " Description of his Transit Theodolite for Mine Survey- 

 ing, and other purposes;" The Rev. Nicholas Brady, 

 M.A., " Desirability of a Uniform International Notation 

 for Crystallography." 



This will conclude these Conferences, which are 

 admitted on all hands to have been a great success 

 and to have added very much to the practical value of 

 the collection. The popular expositions we referred to 

 last week have been carried on with success, and apparatus 

 may now be minutely inspected on Wednesdays, Thurs- 

 days, and Fridays, on application to the Director of the 

 South Kensington Museum on forms provided for the 

 purpose. 



As we intimated last week, the Science and Art De- 

 partment are organising a series of popular lectures in 

 connection with the Loan Collection, to be given on the 

 evenings of the free days — Mondays, Tuesdays, and 

 Saturdays. We believe that the first of these lectures 

 will be given on Saturday by Prof. Roscoe, F.R.S., on 



Dalton's Apparatus, and what he did with it," 



